Archive for January, 2012
How to Recycle Computer Parts
Posted by Gretchen in Creativity on January 13, 2012
Susan Stockwell, a UK artist, is doing some interesting things with old computer parts and maps. Take a look at this installation created for the University of Bedforshire:
Design Inspiration Series Part I: French Formal Garden
Posted by Gretchen in Inspiration on January 11, 2012
This is the first part of a four part series that supplies design tips for cartographers inspired by landscape design genres for the first three posts: French Formal Garden, English Garden, and Japanese Garden. The fourth post will depart from this by seeking inspiration from the natural (non-cultivated) landscape.
The French Formal Garden is an old style of landscaping that incorporates many elements that are also useful for map design. Three of those important elements are briefly described here; you can explore them further via other sources if you so wish.
1) SYMMETRY In the French Formal Garden, symmetry along a prominent axis is one of the main organizing constructs. In a map design, symmetry can be applied in many ways from the placement of the margin information to the centering of the map itself. In this example, the Garden of Vaux-le-Vicomte illustrates the highly symmetrical placement of elements in the garden. Note the strong axis. The map on the right is an example of centering the geography of the map such that a prominent feature is surrounded in equal parts on all sides with background information. Note the two bodies of water in mostly equal proportions on the top and bottom of the map. Photograph taken by Thomas Henz, map by Matt Rosenberg
2) PERSPECTIVE The use of perspective to create vanishing lines and encourage a sense of elongated space took root in French Formal Gardening in the 17th century. To achieve this, certain tricks were employed such as decreasing the width in an allée of trees, gradually, from one end to the other. In mapping, perspective is used to give a unique bird’s eye view of an area to emphasize topography as well as to create a pseudo-natural appearance. Photography by Dr. Glauboch, map is public domain
3) FOCAL POINT The typical focal point of a French Formal Garden is the main house, a large fountain, or a reflecting pool. It is possible that all three can be used as focal points, with the latter two playing subordinate roles to the main house or castle. In map design, the map is generally the focal point and would, in this case, be “equal” to the house in the French Garden. In order to ensure that the map achieves the main visual spot (while a title may take the penultimate spot), the surrounding map elements need to blend more or less effortlessly into the overall composition in order to maintain a cohesive appearance and thus not take the eyes away from the main map. In this garden example, the garden, while being very visually interesting in its own right, definitely does not take away from the home’s architecture. The map example shows how a well-integrated web map can retain visual focus as long as the auxiliary information is designed similarly to the map itself. Photograph of Chateau d’Azay-le-Ferron by SiefkinDR, map by University of South Carolina
How To Create an Inside Buffer Based on Elevation
This post describes how to create a buffer inside a polygon, of a variable-width, that is based on an increase or decrease in elevation from the perimeter of the polygon. One of the potential uses for this technique, though there are others, is flood modeling.
1) Prepare the elevation data by converting to an integer grid. Most elevation data is in floating point while the Euclidean allocation algorithm usually needs an integer grid to work properly. To retain specificity of vertical units, multiply by an appropriate amount such as 100 to retain two decimal places. Remember to re-divide by the same amount before subtracting or adding from the elevation grid again (step 6) – or just subtract/add by the elevation integer grid.
2) Convert the polygon to polylines. Here is an example of a portion of a polygon that needs buffering:
3) Convert the polylines to a raster grid using the same cell size and extent as the elevation data that you’ll eventually be using. For now it doesn’t matter what the values of the cells are.
4) Use the raster from step 3 as a mask on the integer elevation data so that you have a one-pixel wide raster of the elevations at the perimeter of the polygon.
5) Fill in all the cells inside the perimeter with the value of the nearest perimeter elevation by running a Euclidean allocation. You get a bonus for 70’s style colors.
6) If the aim is to decrement by a certain elevation, do an overlay calculation comparing your original elevation data with the Euclidean allocation data. Pixels where the elevation data are less than the Euclidean allocation data by a specified amount (1 meter, for example) would be assigned to an output dataset while the other pixels would be null. If you are using ArcGIS, you can do a CON raster calculator expression, followed by a reclassification to achieve this. Note that in this example you can see that the original polygon perimeter must not have followed an isoline and therefore the result is not a mostly parallel line. If the original perimeter was an isoline then it would have been easier to use contours instead.
Note: to create a raster grid showing cells that emanate out from a location to a certain elevation, as opposed to filling inward, a cost distance calculation is needed. See Simulate a Flood for more information.
On Monetizing Cartography
Posted by Gretchen in Cartography Profession on January 8, 2012
Is anyone making serious money with mapmaking? For most, map-making is an art to be studied for your own personal self-interest and to make sure you can adequately communicate the results of your hard-to-understand geo-analysis methods. Making money solely off the map product and nothing else is doable but probably won’t make you a millionaire.
That’s not to be down on the subject. The person selling unique and extremely high-quality map products might make a pretty good living (e.g., typography maps) at it, especially if they sell them without a middle-man. The point is, map-making in itself is not an easy money maker. To make good money at it you need to have something very unique to offer, a way to market it, and a customer base who has money to spend.
Something along those lines might be to consult on historical map verification and content for the would-be investor. This isn’t too far-fetched of an example. Indeed, some are saying that historic maps are the new long-term investment vehicle, superseding other forms of art which have perhaps reached their price peaks.
Without those three big things: a unique map product, a marketing vehicle, and a moneyed customer base, your expertise can be more profitably put to use doing analysis and data manipulation with cartography being a good way to enhance your products as opposed to being your only product.
What To Do in 2012
Posted by Gretchen in Inspiration on January 5, 2012
- Make it a habit to browse existing maps on a weekly basis. Jot down any and all ideas that come to you as a result of seeing what others are up to in the field. To start browsing, check out the Esri Map Book Gallery, the CartoTalk Map Gallery (you have to sign up to see the maps, but it’s worth it), and see what others are linking to on twitter for the most currently buzzed-about maps (if you haven’t seen this map on Slate this week, you haven’t been keeping up with twitter!).
- Figure out what the top three things are that your clients, boss, customers (whomever you design for) want. Be brutally honest. Do they want the cheapest product and are willing to sacrifice excellent design or even basic design (i.e., legibility)? Are you not putting in enough time to get the quality they need? Whatever they are, write those things down in a place that you’ll see them all year. Either start producing in the way that is needed or find different clientele, or a different job.
- Don’t let 2012 pass by without entering in a map design contest. There’s nothing like some competitive adrenaline to give yourself a kick-in-the-pants to get you to that next level.
- Think of something you can do to contribute to the profession and do it. Whether it’s a paper in a refereed journal, a blog post for an online geo magazine, a presentation at GIS Day, or time spent on VGI, make it a priority to not just give back but to advance the field.
- Think of one doable thing that will make your work-life better and do it. Maybe you need to give a standing desk a try, add a new photo to your cube wall, buy the 100″ wide Giclée printer (no such thing but it would be cool), or get another hard drive. Whatever makes you happy, get that done.
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